Genfest History: 1970's & 1980's

1973 – Loppiano (Florence, Italy):

“People with a global vision who overcome all barriers.” – the first Genfest in history – 8,000 youth from all over Europe, with an ambitious goal: “People with a global vision who want to overcome all barriers.”

1975 – Palaeur Stadium of Rome

“Unity is possible” – 20,000 youth, for the first time from all five continents, are received and blessed by Paul VI who exclaimed, upon seeing them: “A new world is born!”

1980 – Rome

In the midst of the cold war, 40,000 youth meet at the Flaminio Stadium in Rome. Their goal: “For a united world”.

1985 – Rome

A key moment marking the birth of the Youth for a United World Movement. Their motto is “Many roads towards a United World”: among peoples, among ethnic groups, among different religions, between north and south, between those who have and those who don’t have, with those who suffer and those who are alone. Thousands of youth join in the event, linked up by a telephone conference call from America to Australia.

1987 - In 40 countries from 5 continents 120,000 youth gather for the national Genfests to focus on “the disunities of their own lands and to start concrete and targeted activities.”